DART police insisted that a man sitting on a DART bench put on a shirt, witnesses said.

Some patrons of JR.’s Bar & Grill are accusing DART police of harassing homeless gay men, but merchants and a DART spokesman said the police were probably just answering 911 calls.

On Monday, July 2, three men were seen being taken in handcuffs to a DART police car from the DART bench on Cedar Springs Road at Throckmorton Street. The next night, another man who was sitting shirtless on the bench was approached by two DART officers and told to put a shirt on, according to JR.’s patrons who witnessed the incidents.

DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said police would only have been at the location responding to a 911 call. DART police regularly patrol train stations. They are also responsible for bus stops, but normally would be at those stops only if called, Lyons said.

Cedar Springs Merchants Association Executive Director Scott Whittall said he knew nothing about the incidents. But he said merchants and the street’s security guard have called 911 for incidents of panhandling and people bothering patrons of shops, bars and restaurants.

Whittall said the security guard can remove someone from one of the benches that the CSMA placed on the street, but not from DART benches. He said those benches are DART property and under its jurisdiction.

Lyons said DART has a no-loitering policy.

“The facilities are there for transit purposes,” he said.

He said if someone is asleep on a bench, DART police first check to see if the person is OK. But if someone is sitting on a DART bench and a bus passes, DART police ask the person to leave and can arrest them for loitering.

Matthew Austin, who witnessed the incidents, said it’s strange that it happened two nights in a row. He said the incident with the shirtless man involved three police cars. He thought that was overkill for shirtlessness, which he said is certainly legal, and loitering. But the Monday event upset him more. He said one of the three men who were removed Monday is well known on the street and is mentally disabled.

7 Comments

Tisha McDaniel
on July 6, 2012 at 9:31 am

Not to be scrooge but it’s definitely easy to pass judgment when you’re sipping on a cocktail from the safety of a balcony. I live in this area, take public transit and walk EVERYWHERE. Do you have any idea how many times I’m harassed while walking on Cedar Springs on a daily basis? I agree that 3 cops on 1 shirtless guy is overkill but some of these people are not out there for the nice weather and pretty scenery coming from the bars.

I also live in the area. I walk my dog past this area almost daily. I have a feeling, but no proof…I wasn’t there, that the guy they were asking to leave, is the same guy that takes his clothes off or rarely has anything on at all. He seems to be in need of some sort of help from professionals. He seems completely out of it, either from substances or a mental imbalance. He is pretty dirty. He disappears for a time. Maybe he has been taken in and put on meds during these times? But, he eventually reappears and on the corner of Cedar Springs and Throckmorton and walks around asking for cigarettes with barely anything on. I’m a live and let live type person, but I don’t think most people want to witness a person who is in serious need of some help walking around nearly naked. Anyone who lives in the area or patronizes the businesses on Cedar Springs on a regular basis has seen this guy. What to do?

I am a manager at Hunky’s and I was working that day. There was a convention of blind people in the city. Those “innocent” homeless people took two of those blind people visiting our community and led them away to an alley and tried to force money out of them. The “innocent” homeless person sitting on the bench is guilty of exposing himself to everybody and anybody. The other “innocent” homeless person was walking naked in the crosswalk stopping traffic at one point. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE PEOPLE BEING GAY. THEY WERE BREAKING NUMEROUS LAWS AND HURTING INNOCENT BLIND PEOPLE.

I’ve been on the Hunky’s and Subway patio many times or just walking in to the Round Up or various other locations along the strip and been asked for money, cigarettes, rides to places, and even offered oral sex for cash (no, I didn’t take the offer). I’m sure the police were just doing their job and some queen on JR’s balcony overreacted…probably because they were offered oral sex for cash.

While I have been attacked / accosted at that very bus stop in broad daylight by presumably homeless definitely undesirable types. What bothers me about a previous comment, that he is unbalance / out of it because of drugs. Being homeless he might just be suffering from heat stroke / exhaustion. It is wrong to presume the worst of people, evidence presented here is insufficient to form an accurate opinion.

Perhaps if they were offered a bit of hydration once in a while? Their higher level functioning might improve a bit.

With all of the great improvements being made to Cedar Springs, this is another improvement that needs to be made. People should feel free to shop, go to restaurants, and all that CS has to offer without dealing with these problems. There are major problems with people loitering around behind the Valero station and behind the Oak Lawn Library. I called the police to the Oak Lawn Library to break up a rowdy group of drunks congregating in the shade: yelling, getting drunk, and hassling pedestrians.

There is a major problem with “loitering” on Cedar Springs. Groups of drunks gather behind the Oak Lawn Library and the Valero station. With all of the great improvements to Cedar Springs, this really needs to be addressed.